Repeating unethical workplace behavior through ethical fading: justification from perspective-taking supervisors

Due to the high costs associated with unethical workplace behaviors, preventing their reoccurrence is critically important for organizations. However, not so much has been known about the process whereby some individuals repeat unethical workplace behaviors and conditions that enable it. To help organizations understand such behavioral contingencies and inform organizational prevention strategies, through integrating insights from ethical fading theory and attribution of responsibility (Heider, 2013; Kelley, 1967; Tenbrunsel & Messick, 2004), I proposed an alternative mechanism of ethical responsibility that explains when and how some individuals repeatedly engage in unethical workplace behaviors through ethical fading, and identified the justification role of the perspective-taking supervisor in this process. I tested the hypotheses by a sample of employees in a real estate company in China. And the results supported that, by providing individuals who have engaged in unethical workplace behaviors with justification for their biased attribution, perspective-taking supervisors promote ethical fading that is manifested through faded ethical responsibility. With faded ethical responsibility, individuals are more likely to engage in unethical workplace behaviors again.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference